Bayne Rallies to Finish 17th at Texas

A day after Trevor Bayne scored his first ever Nationwide Series victory and clinched Ford Motor Company’s third Nationwide Series Manufacturers’ Title and the first for the Mustang, he was poised to make some more headlines with the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion in the Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway.

But one disappointing run late in the race robbed him of a chance to finish among the leaders in the AAA Texas 500.

Bayne started 13th but fell a lap down during a long stretch of green-flag racing. He eventually raced his way into the “Lucky Dog” spot as the first driver one lap down, then when Jimmie Johnson spun on Lap 241, Bayne was able to rejoin the lead lap.

Twenty laps later he lined up 14th for a restart and was ready to move on up when he went backwards instead. He suspected that oil from the blown engine on Joey Logano’s No. 20 Toyota could have been to blame.

“I don’t know if we got his oil on our tires or just garbage or something was wrong, but that run we were 14th, and I thought we were going to be able to drive to the top 10 because our car was strong,” he said. “But it was just slipping and sliding, and it drove like a different animal and I fell back to twenty-something.”

A change of tires fixed whatever was wrong, and Bayne was back on the charge. “At the end we had a good car again, and I was able to rally back to 17th.”

Team co-owner Eddie Wood said he was pleased with the team’s performance at Texas and proud of Bayne’s break-through Nationwide win, which came in a Roush Fenway Racing Mustang.

“We had a fast car most of the day; it just didn’t work out for us in the middle of the race.” Wood said. “And we’re very happy that Trevor won on Saturday. He’s been trying so hard to win one of those races.”

Bayne and his Wood Brothers team will close out a historic season that has seen the team win its fifth Daytona 500 and team founder Glen Wood elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame with the running of the season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 20.